Chapter 147 A Fleeting Moment

Lei Nuo'la left, taking the flame Zhou Ming had given her—the traveling queen and her drifting house disappeared into the endless gray-white mist outside the window. Only after she had been gone for a long time did Zhou Ming take a deep breath and turn away from the window.

He had always been curious about how the "Frost Queen" managed to "travel" in this boundless fog, curious about the principle and process of the drifting house sailing at the edge of the world. After all, even knowing that the house was the New Hope's escape pod, he still found it hard to imagine what kind of power it used now, and what it looked like when sailing in the fog—but Lei Nuo'la herself didn't seem to be able to explain this.

Faced with Zhou Ming's questions, she only replied that it was some kind of "instinctive" process. She had merged with the drifting house, and when the house traveled at the edge of the world, she felt as if she were "walking in the fog." She couldn't feel the chaotic space-time fractures, nor did she need to consider the house's "power" situation.

It sounded magical, and Zhou Ming could only explain it as the "escape pod" retaining a complete automatic navigation system, and with the changes brought about by the Great Annihilation, this automatic navigation system might have become the drifting house's "supernatural characteristic"—just like Alice's "navigational instinct" after taking the helm.

Anyway, the doll didn't know how the Vanishing Ship actually sailed, but that didn't stop her from making the ship race wildly at the edge of the world...

Letting out a light breath, Zhou Ming temporarily put aside the irrelevant thoughts in his mind, and then walked to his desk.

The LCD monitor on the desk emitted a faint light, and the computer host next to it was still making a slight buzzing sound. This "machine" in the form of a "computer" in his eyes was running as usual, as if waiting for his interaction.

But this time, Zhou Ming didn't touch the keyboard and mouse on the desk. He just sat at the desk, quietly watching the cursor flashing slowly in the search box on the screen, as if... watching himself, whom he hadn't seen in a long time, in the mirror.

"You are part of this place, and so is this desk," after an unknown amount of time, Zhou Ming spoke softly to himself as if talking to himself, "The floor is, and so is the roof, everything here is... and so am I. We all are, right?"

The cursor flickered silently, as if it had no reaction to Zhou Ming's words, but slowly, the glow on the LCD screen gradually dimmed—the screen went black bit by bit, eventually becoming as black as ink, as black as an empty mirror.

Zhou Ming stared at the empty mirror, seeing his own face in the mirror.

And at the edge of his vision, on the desk next to him, on the walls, on the roof, and even on the shelf and small wardrobe in the corner, the surfaces of these ordinary "home furnishings" that he had used for many years in his memory were bulging with faint purple starlight, emerging bit by bit.

Some kind of almost uncontrollable "change" was stirring near the critical point.

A slight itch suddenly came from his arm. Zhou Ming looked down and saw Xilandis, the "World Tree" like a bonsai, floating beside him. The small sapling was suspended in the air, and the branches at the edge of the canopy were gently poking his arm, looking a little uneasy.

Zhou Ming was stunned for a while, then slowly reached out to pick up Xilandis and placed it on the desk.

"Don't be afraid, little sapling, it's not time yet," he gently comforted Xilandis' canopy, a smile slowly appearing on his face, "I will arrange it well. You will take root in a fertile and stable land, where there will be bright sunshine and a gentle breeze... Everyone will have their own place, and Sasroka will be there too..."

Xilandis floated quietly on the desk, and a soft rustling sound came from the canopy, as if across a distant and long time, the wind in the memories of the past blew across the top of the World Tree again.

The starlight at the edge of his vision was gradually fading, and everything in the room slowly returned to its original state.

"It's not time yet..." In the cabin, Inverse Singularity said softly to himself, "The day hasn't come yet..."

……

The goat head suddenly raised its head, its obsidian-carved black eyes staring at the figure who opened the door and came in. For a brief moment, it seemed to see scattered starlight filling the entire cabin, and a tall figure standing in the starlight stepping through the Vanisher's Gate, exuding a force that seemed to crush the Vanishing Ship.

But that momentary illusion quickly dissipated from Sasroka's eyes. It saw the captain walking into the captain's room, just like every day in the past.

"Duncan Abernathy," Duncan waved his hand, taking the initiative to speak before the other party could, "I just took a 'long trip'."

"...I almost didn't recognize you again," the goat head seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and immediately started babbling, "You've been a little scary every time you 'go out' these days. Sometimes I'm not sure what the heck comes in when you enter the door... Oh, my mouth slipped, don't blame me for being offensive, it's just that I saw a scary scene just now and I'm a little nervous. Do you feel okay? Do you need to go back to your room to rest? They haven't come back yet, but I guess they should be back soon. Even Shirley should have stuffed herself full with her appetite by now. Are we almost there? Alice is still steering..."

The goat head's chattering came like a landslide. Duncan originally had some complicated emotions in his heart after returning from across the door, but at this time, the first mate's opening directly smashed all the emotions away. He could only subconsciously glare: "Shut up!"

The goat head suddenly became quiet with a "crunch," and then after being quiet for less than a few seconds, it shook its head again. When it spoke again, it was not as noisy, but with a sigh and a smile: "...Welcome back, it's good that you're okay."

"...What could happen to me," Duncan breathed out, walking towards the chart table, but when he sat down, he still looked up at the goat head, nodding with some seriousness, "Don't worry."

His gaze then fell on the nautical chart covered with a thin mist.

Since passing through the border of the world, this chart, which could be updated in real time, no longer showed the various routes and signs on the Infinite Sea. Instead, there was only endless gray-white mist, and the faint green trace representing the Vanishing Ship, which was vaguely visible in the mist.

Now that blurred trace was still floating on the edge of the chart, and it had now sailed almost half the distance at the edge of the world.

The third node was near—this was the only information that this chart could currently provide.

A hundred years ago, did the real Duncan Abernathy rely on such a nautical chart that could hardly provide any useful information when he drove the Vanishing Ship to challenge the border of the world?

Or... did he not even have such a chart at that time?

Some irrelevant thoughts popped up in Duncan's mind, and just then, he heard the lively sounds coming from the deck outside.

His crew members had come back from the Radiant Star, having mooched a meal.

An inexplicable feeling surged up, and Duncan couldn't help but show a little smile on his face. He got up from behind the chart table, walked to the door of the captain's room, and pushed it open.

Nina and Shirley, who were fighting and playing on the deck, immediately heard the movement and turned to look at this side at the same time. Nina smiled and waved her arms happily towards this side: "Uncle Duncan!"

Maurice, holding a pipe, took the pipe out of his mouth and bowed to Duncan. Vanna also lowered her head with a smile. Shirley sat on A'gou, rubbing her belly, and waved her arms at Duncan with an embarrassment mixed with an inexplicable smugness: "I ate a little too much..."

A'gou was full of resentment: "If you eat too much, go for a walk yourself, what's the use of letting me carry you around..."

Nina walked over with a smile, carrying a lunch box with a handle in her hand, and showed Duncan the contents happily: "This is Rooney's sweet pancakes and carrot stew. I'll put it on the table for you, don't forget to eat~"

As soon as she finished speaking, the girl skipped past Duncan and walked into the captain's room lightly.

Duncan had a smile on his face all the time. He looked at these lively figures, watching them talk, laugh, play, and boast around him. He saw the sailor also walk out of the cabin, complaining to Maurice about the "unidentified viscous compounds" in the kitchen pot being difficult to clean, while Agatha's figure appeared in the air beside him—Shirley ran away as soon as she saw her, but was pulled back by A'gou with a chain after only a few steps...

Duncan just watched by the side, as if he wanted to imprint all these figures in his mind.

These were truly the best days he had on this ship.

Then, he heard a low rumble coming from high altitude, and felt the slight shaking of the Vanishing Ship's hull—outside the ship's side, wisps of color suddenly appeared in the uniform gray-white background. This was the sign that the warp channel had reached its end.

Above the Vanishing Ship and the Radiant Star, the phantom of the New Hope was gradually fading, the front end of the warp channel began to shatter, and a gray-black and dark red color appeared in the distant fog, followed by the sound of a ship entering the water—the destination had arrived.

"...Warp stop..."

A blurred and distorted voice reached everyone's ears.

The people on the deck reacted for a moment, and then ran to the side of the ship in unison. Duncan subconsciously turned his head to look at the direction of the stern deck. The next second, he saw a head sticking out of the railing at the edge of the cockpit. Alice was waving at him happily: "Captain! We're here! It's the festival of fire..."

A head fell from the edge of the cockpit, bouncing a few times on the ground, and rolling to Duncan's feet.

Alice looked up, blinking her eyes at the captain.

Duncan sighed: "Sometimes, I suspect you're doing it on purpose."

Alice thought for a while: "Hel...Hel...Help..."

(End of this chapter)